My Hero Academia 6×02 & 6×03 Review: “Mirko, the No. 5 Hero” & “One’s Justice”

As much as the premiere episode dropped you right in the middle of the action, both “Mirko, the No. 5 Hero” and “One’s Justice” continue with the fast-paced drama. You barely have time to catch your breath as Endeavor and Mirko are locked in a battle with the Nomus while Edge Shot and Cementoss begin the raid on the PLF’s headquarters.

“Mirko, the No. 5 Hero” and “One’s Justice” are an interesting combination of episodes to watch back-to-back, because they contrast each other nicely. Each episode mostly focuses on one hero and one villain: Mirko versus Garaki and Hawks versus Twice. One fight was a little ridiculous and a lot violent, and one was actually kind of heartbreaking, and not in the way you might think.

First of all, I don’t think you can talk about an episode called “Mirko, the No. 5 Hero” without talking about Mirko because holy cow, did you see her? She literally beheaded a Nomu with her thighs after having her army almost telekinetically twisted off. That is an image that lingers, let me tell you. (I’m not sure a real rabbit could do that, but you know. Anime.)

I love Mirko’s spirit and tenacity, and she actually has a pretty great philosophy. Basically, live every day as if it were going to be your last, and you will have no regrets. She kind of reminds me of an older Midoriya, only one that’s a little more level-headed. A bit. Slightly. Ok, she’s kind of a cross between Midoriya and Bakugou.

I was always curious as to how Garaki found volunteers to create Nomus. Knowing that they’re fashioned out of corpses is chilling, but honestly, unsurprising. I suppose it’s actually better knowing that he isn’t experimenting on live victims, the way many unscrupulous doctors have in the past. As an “esteemed” doctor, he likely has an unlimited supply of test subjects via the morgue at the hospital.

One thing I really enjoyed about this arc in the manga is getting to see all of these hero team-ups that we don’t normally see. Like, I never would have thought I needed to see Endeavor and Eraserhead fighting together, but “Mirko, the No. 5 Hero” proved me wrong! They make a great team and seem to be perfectly suited to fight the Nomus, especially with how quickly they can take them down with their combined Quirks.

Meanwhile, Kaminari is out here reminding all of us that these are literal teenagers, thrust into a major war where they could lose their lives. (Trust me, as a manga reader, it gets worse.) Not everyone is like Midoriya, who throws himself into danger without even thinking about it most of the time. Many of these kids are just kids, and they’re going to be scared and overwhelmed unless they can find something that they’re willing to fight for.

I know some people think that the Kaminari/Jirou thing came out of nowhere, but I think there have been enough hints since season 1 that this was potentially coming. I think it’s just that neither character is really that main of a character, despite being in 1-A. A lot of their scenes together have been small or in the background. That scene, where Kaminari suddenly thinks of Jirou, was really quite cute. 

“One’s Justice” broke my heart a little – but for Twice. I think one of the beauties of My Hero Academia is that it can make you feel sympathy for the villains. (Well, some of the villains. Not gonna lie, some of these dudes are just straight-up evil.) I have been dreading this scene since I read it in the manga. I can’t help but feel gutted for Twice, who unknowingly brought destruction to his friends not once, but… twice. He just wanted to help. I legitimately teared up during his scene with Toga.

On the other side of that is Hawks, who is not your typical hero in that he was specifically trained to be kind of an anti-hero. He’s who they call in when they need something underhanded. I think he was honestly regretful that Twice wouldn’t admit defeat. A big part of his personality is being dishonest, but I don’t think he was lying when he said that he thought Twice was a good guy. Although his offer of a chance to start over was probably hollow, considering Twice’s history.

If anything, “One’s Justice” hammers home the point that the PLF is not necessarily wrong in their ethos. He did have an unfortunate life, but did society help him when he needed it? His Quirk had all kinds of potential, but he needed confidence in himself to unlock it and really get a handle on his abilities. By the time that happened, he’s already been led into a life of crime.

The idea that all of society falls into a binary is ridiculous. “Hero” or “villain”, “good” or “evil”, these are meaningless qualifications. The world isn’t black and white; it’s littered with shades of gray. I don’t necessarily disagree with the PLF’s beliefs. It’s clear that their society does need to change.

I mean, look at what’s happening now: a so-called hero infiltrated an organization, and now a larger group of heroes have launched a surprise attack. Flip the teams and it would be a great travesty. Think about where Jin or Toga or Shigaraki would be if they’d gotten the help that they needed when they needed it; if people hadn’t taken one look at their Quirks and assumed “villain” right from the jump.

This episode also shows us just how insanely powerful both Dabi and Hawks are. Dabi’s flames are no joke, but Hawks managing to evade him at every turn is pretty amazing. His speed is incredible, even with most of his feathers gone.

One little thing that made me laugh: Tokoyami’s head sticking out of Fatgum’s stomach. That was just a funny visual.

Something that I’m not a huge fan of is that it seems like the pointless recaps and Mic’s hero introductions only vanished for the first episode of the season and haven’t gone for good. I don’t need to be reminded week-to-week what is going on. I can follow along well enough to remember that they’re staging a simultaneous attack without being spoon-fed that information at the beginning of every episode.

Things do not look good for Hawks in the next episode. How will the rest of the League react to Twice’s death? And how does Dabi know Hawks’ name?

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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